Vena

My overall and remarkable insight with Vena

Comments: It's a reliable tool for creating and managing financial budgets.
It's reliable with cash flows management.

Pros:

I like how this tool is reliable for financial planning,budgeting and forecasting.It's simple to prepare custom financial reports reports with Vena.This tool is reliable with bank account reconciliation.

Cons:

I lack anything that I can complain since this tool meets all my needs and expectations.

Recommendation from an early Vena adopter

Comments: We deployed Vena in 2020 as an ERP extension to our legacy system. Vena empowered sales metrics on the front end, financial project management in the middle, and financial reporting at the job level on the back end. We deployed a second "cube" data warehouse after the initial launch for financial reporting. Each deployment has worked as prescribed and brought extraordinary value to our construction company.

Pros:

Vena has delivered huge value for us in a flexible package that can grow with our business effectively and efficiently. Vena let us keep our existing financial system and our customer Excel quoting apps. And built a reporting system on the back of Excel which everyone already knows. The road to value was fairly straightforward for us.

Cons:

Vena is a toolbox of powerful opportunities. It is not an out-of-the-box accounting system. So you have to know exactly what you want out of Vena before deploying it. But this is true of any data warehouse. Knowing how data is to be extracted and presented requires upfront commitment and execution. Time spent in the planning phase will pay off 10X in the execution phase.

Coming full circle - back to excel?

Comments: I have used a handful of popular systems in my 10-year career. When I first heard of Excel focused planning tools I was at first excited. How can a system that solves for the very tool that all of finance uses go wrong? In the beginning, FPA wanted to get out of Excel and have one version of the truth. Then the industry pivoted back to Excel with a bunch of intermixed features between Excel and cloud solutions workflow. With that, issues arise such as..If everything is Excel based, is it just easier to use Excel? Sadly Vena, and many others like them, fall short with the basic product offering equation. What problem are you actually solving for? The balance between a native Excel feeling and the Vena software controlling it feels under-developed. And how can it not be? If you solve for Excel then you stray from the Vena platform, if you focus on Vena platform you move away from Excel. The result is a mediocre product at best. Here is a basic example. In Excel you can group columns, easy. In Vena, you can write simple code on the report to hide a column. In the same report you can use one or the other, or both, the results are reports with frustrating formatting quirks. Though there are some pluses to Vena, I would think twice about committing to it as it is not a robust planning tool. The main question you, the user, should ask is the following.” Do I buy into the future where Excel (a system owner my Microsoft) really the future of financial planning software?

Pros:

Honestly, if you have used other planning software, I can not really say there is much.

Cons:

• No web interface that shows your financials. All financials must be displayed through reports that you build through Excel. Yes, you can pull intersection data and get a dump, but that is cumbersome. • Loading headcount takes up to an hour to load since it needs to be customized. • Mapping a report takes too long. You must map not just columns and rows, but the “page”, or global like dimensions. Vena should be smart enough to know this without the user, it is not. • Mapping a report takes way too much space. You can not nest a query within a cell. • Hard running a report with two global assumptions. You have to create another intersection mapping. • Hard to audit a complicated report, hence you are incentivized not to, therefore what is the point? • Reports and input sheets can exist on the same report sheet. Though useful at times, it is easy to override data and can get confusing. Though you sometimes have to do it for modeling purposes. • The software learning curve peaks too early. I understand having a simple software, but not at the expense of functionality. • Writing intricate code to help automate financial planning is not practical. There is only a primitive editor, and no result box that guides you. Our consultants told us do not even try because they seldom touch it. Specifically, it is extremely hard to validate what is occurring. • Building a three-statement model is a disaster. Imagine building a balance sheet, but not being able to pull a number from the

This is a professional and dynamic tool

Comments: It's a straightforward tool that allows me to perform multiple tasks in one panel, it has effective formulas, allowing me to perform qualitative and quantitative analyzes with greater precision. In addition, when delivering these reports, I can reflect them in graphics that are easy to understand for others while still respecting the presentation’s professionalism. Another feature I like and have improved is the panel that can be personalized in the most used choices to organize it better.

Pros:

Vana is a software that allows to carry out tasks either financial or accounting in a customized way by means of calculation sheets and templates very similar to the established Excel tool, except that in this opportunity offers a greater number of options that conform to the specific requirements required by the current administrative systems of the enterprises. With this program, automated reports can be made enabling the preparation of managerial plans, with a high level of protection that will enable you to function without fear of filtering such data. It adapts very well to different industries and enables archives to be imported and exported quickly

Cons:

The monthly cost of the tool is very high relative to other similar ones, but of course, it should be remembered that it is a tool targeted at medium and large businesses, so that the price for large organizations can be manageable.

Excel based Performance Management Tool

Pros:

Our Financial Planning and Analysis team picked Vena from many other tools. The reason for zeroing on this tool, is, it is an excel based tool. We have been doing all this work in excel since years. We have standardized the process and have fixed excel templates. However excel has certain limitations like version control, access control, audit trail etc. With Vena we overcame the limitations of excel while retaining the power, flexibility and ease of use of excel. We have many desperate IT systems some by choice and some by compulsion due to various acquisitions. We import the data from all these systems into vena database. Data is automatically consolidated and aggregated per our requirements for use in advanced management reports as well as ad hoc reports in vena. Vena offers workflow and approval management by project, department etc. Further one can drill up, drill down, slice and dice the data using vena. Variance analysis is a piece of cake in this tool. Vena customer service is good too.

Cons:

There is a learning curve like any other tool. There is no drag and drop from a selection of columns, fields etc. However once you learn the tool, reporting becomes easier.